Electric Vehicles: Tesla specific talk, current firmware, purchasing, modifications

[diamond.g]

Speaking of FSD, read yesterday that Musk has decreed that all new deliveries are required to take a short test drive of FSD. If I bought a Tesla and, at delivery, instead of handing me the key they demanded that I have to put my life at risk letting a car with no true depth-perception try to crash me into a median, I would tell them to f- off and give me my money back.

It is def a double edged sword. I get that some folks don't understand how it works and having a demo would be good. I also understand that it isn't finished, nor has the government really said much (or maybe enough) about FSD.

 

[diamond.g]

FSD Price has dropped to 8k in the US. If you already have EAP it looks like 2K to upgrade.


Guess we are back to 2019 pricing... Wonder for how long.

 

[Herdfan]

I guess this is a good use for a Cybertruck:

 

[Eric]

FSD Price has dropped to 8k in the US. If you already have EAP it looks like 2K to upgrade.


Guess we are back to 2019 pricing... Wonder for how long.

It will be interesting to see how many purchase it now that they've given everyone a free 30 day trial. I have played with it to see how much it's been upgraded over the last year and it's still a hard no from me, way too big brother. My observations so far:

• Stays with the speed limit, you have to manually increase it by 5 MPH (seems the max it will go over) every time there is a new sign with a speed change. Extremely frustrating.
• Cars behind you ride your ass with frustration because it cannot keep up with the flow of traffic.
• Following distance is way too far, even on the smallest setting it seems like it's 10 or 12 car lengths.
• Simply cannot handle heavy traffic, gets confused with lane changes, ghost breaking, etc. The driver must disengage fully to not appear like they're drunk.
• Cannot take your eyes off the road for more than a few seconds without setting off alarms, making it so you disengage to look in your glove compartment or to grab something from a bag in the passenger's seat. Yes, you shouldn't be doing these things while. driving, but people DO all the time. As a result you're more likely to swerve in manual mode, the car should be assisting here.
• When FSD is enabled you cannot use the single pull to engage ACC, which appears to be disabled completely so single or double pull have the same function of FSD only. Both should really be an option.

The bottom line is you have to babysit every step it takes while in FSD. I maintain that it's 100% pointless and far easier for you to simply drive it yourself. This is nowhere near ready for prime time.

 

[Eric]

Tesla spotted in Kenya

 

[diamond.g]

So 12.3.6 is alright (I guess), still not a fan of them making NoA City Streets act more human like in lane positioning.

 

[Nycturne]

How to kneecap a company in one bone-headed move: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/0...eryone-working-on-superchargers-new-vehicles/

Between this and the compensation package I don’t think the company can afford at this point, is Musk going to wind up burning it all down?

 

[Cmaier]

How to kneecap a company in one bone-headed move: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/0...eryone-working-on-superchargers-new-vehicles/

Between this and the compensation package I don’t think the company can afford at this point, is Musk going to wind up burning it all down?

Yeah, but, dude. This is *hardcore* !

 

[diamond.g]

How to kneecap a company in one bone-headed move: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2024/0...eryone-working-on-superchargers-new-vehicles/

Between this and the compensation package I don’t think the company can afford at this point, is Musk going to wind up burning it all down?

I don't understand how they can whiff on such an easy layup (with respect to charging network stuff).

 

[Eric]

So 12.3.6 is alright (I guess), still not a fan of them making NoA City Streets act more human like in lane positioning.

As much as I bag on this, the price drop to $99 for FSD is pretty compelling, almost worth it for the novelty times you use it or if going on a trip.

 

[Eric]

Elon Musk Laid Off Supercharger Team After Taking $17 Million in Federal Charging Grants

Despite its CEO railing against Biden, Tesla was more than happy to take the administration's money.

gizmodo.com

Elon Musk Laid Off Supercharger Team After Taking $17 Million in Federal Charging Grants​

Despite its CEO railing against Biden, Tesla was more than happy to take the administration's money.​

 

[diamond.g]

Elon Musk Laid Off Supercharger Team After Taking $17 Million in Federal Charging Grants

Despite its CEO railing against Biden, Tesla was more than happy to take the administration's money.

gizmodo.com

Yeah it is a bad look for sure.

 

[Citysnaps]

Between this and the compensation package I don’t think the company can afford at this point, is Musk going to wind up burning it all down?

I think that will happen organically with all of the Chinese EVs soon coming to market, marking the demise of Tesla. Now might be a good time for Musk to extract whatever he can from the company.

 

[Eric]

I think that will happen organically with all of the Chinese EVs soon coming to market, marking the demise of Tesla. Now might be a good time for Musk to extract whatever he can from the company.

In the meantime the cost cutting for subscription services is turning out to be pretty awesome, it sucks for those who already paid those exorbitant prices though.

 

[Herdfan]

I think that will happen organically with all of the Chinese EVs soon coming to market, marking the demise of Tesla. Now might be a good time for Musk to extract whatever he can from the company.

But are they going to grow the market?

Some will jump based on price, but there are already a few cheaper EV's from non-Chinese companies for those on a strict budget. So what will a Chinese EV get them?

 

[Citysnaps]

But are they going to grow the market?

Some will jump based on price, but there are already a few cheaper EV's from non-Chinese companies for those on a strict budget. So what will a Chinese EV get them?

I have no idea. I'm just wondering, and speculating, what's motivating Musk right now.

Speaking of speculation... I also wonder if the upcoming release of multiple Chinese EVs soon coming to western markets had something to do with Apple killing their EV project, believing it would be difficult to compete with them.

 

[Cmaier]

I have no idea. I'm just wondering, and speculating, what's motivating Musk right now.

Speaking of speculation... I also wonder if the upcoming release of multiple Chinese EVs soon coming to western markets had something to do with Apple killing their EV project, believing it would be difficult to compete with them.

Nah. The holdup is that we have lots of regulations about safety that china does not, and a lot of other foreign markets do not. The same reason a lot of cars from other countries can’t be sold here. You also need a service network, a sales network, etc. Not easy to break into the U.S. auto market.

As for Musk’s current problems, he alienated anyone opposed to Nazi’s, and the pro-Nazi market isn’t big enough to compensate. Plus there is now very good competition from Hyundai, Kia, and others at the lower end, and BMW and Porsche at the higher end. If you have $80k+ to spend would you rather bup a Model S with misfitting body panels, terrible ergonomics, and no street cred, or a Porsche?

Also doesn’t help that the cars have not improved in a decade. My model S is better than today’s in many ways - it has turn signal and gear stalks, has two chargers so it can charge at 80A instead of 40A, etc. The only real improvements have been range and self-driving (which is not something that is driving sales).

 

[Herdfan]

also wonder if the upcoming release of multiple Chinese EVs soon coming to western markets

In the current season of The Amazing Race, they are in Uruguay and the cars they are driving are manufactured by BYD. Can't tell if they are pure EV's or Hybrids, but they look nice enough.